Yacon, wonder tuber from the Andes - almost no calories and does wonders for your health
- Yacon is being feted as a new dietary wonder food because its carbohydrates provide few calories to the human digestive system
- Originally from South America, it is now being grown commercially around the world, including in Sikkim, India’s organic state
Yacon, a tuber that grows in the Andean region of South America, was identified as a potential diet food as far back as 1989, in a book by United States government researchers.
“Yacon stores carbohydrate in the form of inulin – a polymer composed mainly of fructose,” the US National Research Council’s Advisory Committee on Technology Innovation wrote in Lost Crops of the Incas: Little-known Plants of the Andes with Promise for Worldwide Cultivation.
Yacon passes through the digestive tract unmetabolised, providing few calories and making it attractive to market to diabetics and dieters, the researchers wrote. The book also called for research into the use of yacon as an alternative sweetener.
Since then a number of studies around the world have looked at yacon’s health benefits.
A review of research on yacon in the journal Nutrients in 2016 outlines some of the tuber’s health benefits for weight loss, as a dietary supplement to treat chronic diseases, as a prebiotic to enhance colon health, and to reduce the risk of colon cancer.
